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Long Live Lisch

Can the Billikens beat Louisville?

In short, the answer is probably not, at least that’s the general consensus. I even ran into Mike Crawford’s drunk dad at Humphrey’s before the St. Francis game he said “I just hope my son plays well.” Great team mentality, pal!

Crazier things have happened. George Washington beat Virginia? Although I think that makes me more terrified of GW (conference opponent) than it gives any sort of validation to my argument.

Let’s even the playing fields before we compare the two teams. We’re only going to look at games that have been played in the Brooklyn Classic so each team has the same number of games played and against the same opponents.

I left the stat out that worries me the most, offensive rebounds per game. Through 4 games, Louisville is averaging 16.75 offensive rebounds per game compared to SLU’s 9.0. This is a clear indicator of what I consider the “Big Man” threat to which SLU is exposed. Louisville has five players that are 6’10 or taller, three of which get significant playing time. Those three are putting up 24.9 pts per game on 63.4 FG%.

Louisville’s guards are also pretty remarkable. With the core of Damian Lee, Trey Lewis, and Quentin Snider averaging a combined 39.3 pts per game on 45.4 FG%. If nothing else, Damian Lee is amazing, he’ll be fun to watch.

Man, I started this article thinking that I was going to convince myself we had a chance…

This is going to be a blood bath, isn’t it?

So…No. God, No. The Billikens cannot beat Louisville. But I will watch! Given that I can find some place that has the American Sports Network. But if by the grace of the Almighty, Dr. Chaifetz, we win…I expect to see you all at Humps struggling to remember the score.

Go Bills.

-Kevin

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Update: I’d like to point out that my post was published before Stu Durando’s article making largely the same points.